'He's A Guy That Needs The Puck In His Hands': Maple Leafs Hope To Get William Nylander Going By Reuniting Him With John Tavares Against Jets

Without a point in three games, Nylander will skate with Tavares and have a new look with Max Pacioretty on the wing.

WINNIPEG — When the Toronto Maple Leafs face the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Monday, they’ll showcase a refreshed second line with a familiar connection.

At the team’s morning skate, the Leafs reconfigured their second line, reuniting William Nylander and John Tavares, now with Max Pacioretty joining them on the left wing.

Maple Leafs' head coach Craig Berube, speaking during Sunday’s media availability at the team hotel in Boston, noted a sense of frustration in Nylander, who has been held pointless over the last three games.

“They've been successful in the past and with Pacioretty right there, a big winger that could score, just trying to find a little bit more scoring in some other lines,” Berube explained on Monday.

The change was ineviable as Berube recently expressed concerns about the previous trio of Bobby McMann-Max Domi-William Nylander, saying he hadn’t seen “much chemistry on their line.”

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Pacioretty, fresh off a lower-body injury that kept him out until Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins, now receives his most significant promotion since signing a one-year deal with Toronto before the season.

“He’s one of the best skaters in the league,” Pacioretty remarked about Nylander. “He has tremendous offensive abilities. I’ve got to try to make it simple and make it a little bit easier on him.”

Though Nylander wasn’t available to the media after the morning skate, Berube has been actively engaging with him, both on and off the ice, aiming to help the star player regain his form.

“Talking to him for sure and trying to find something that’s going to work with him,” Berube explained. “If he doesn’t get the puck enough, it’s hard. He’s a guy that needs the puck in his hands. So, you know, we’ve got to try to find a way to get the puck into his hands a little bit more in areas where he can expose the opposition. And that’s part of the coaching end with Willy.

“So it’s just communication with him and what he’s seeing and trying to help him.”

After starting the season strong with five goals and two assists in six games, Nylander has been scoreless in the last three, a stretch in which the Leafs are 0-2-1. They now face the challenge of taking on the undefeated 8-0-0 Jets.

Since John Tavares signed with the Maple Leafs on July 1, 2018, the center has spent most of his tenure in Toronto with Nylander on his wing. 

The Leafs will also try changing up the power play units, but keeping Tavares and Nylander together on the second unit.